A DNA match ties a former police officer to some of the crimes committed by a California serial killer behind at least 12 homicides and 45 rapes throughout the state in the 1970s and '80s, police officials announced Wednesday. (April 25)
AP

Joseph James DeAngelo, 72, was arrested in the killing of Lyman and Charlene Smith. The couple was killed March 13, 1980 while they slept in their home on High Point Drive in Ventura.(Photo: CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/SACRAMENTO COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT)

The man suspected to be the Golden State Killer was charged with capital murder in the bludgeoning deaths of Lyman and Charlene Smith in their Ventura home in March 1980, a law-enforcement task force announced Wednesday.

The suspect, Joseph James DeAngelo, 72, was arrested Tuesday outside his home in Citrus Heights, near Sacramento, and is being held without bail in Sacramento County jail.

“We have found the needle in the haystack,” Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert said at a news conference Wednesday with Ventura County District Attorney Greg Totten in attendance.

Also called the East Area Rapist in Sacramento, the Original Night Stalker in Orange County and the Visalia Ransacker, the prolific serial perpetrator known as the Golden State Killer is suspected of 12 murders, 51 rapes and dozens of break-ins in a crime spree that spanned from 1974 to 1986 in 10 California counties.

“This 1980 murder had long been a source of fear and angst in the neighborhood in which it occurred and indeed all throughout Ventura County. This is a case that, much like the rapes that occurred here in the Sacramento area, literally struck terror in the hearts of Ventura County residents,” said Totten, who worked on the Smith case as a law clerk.

The Smiths were found by Lyman Smith’s younger son on March 16, 1980, and had been bludgeoned with a fireplace log and bound in the bedroom of their home on High Point Drive. Charlene Smith, 33, an interior decorator, had been sexually assaulted and bound with drapery cord fastened in an ornate knot. Lyman Smith, 43, was on the short list for an appointment to the Superior Court bench.

Citing an active investigation, law enforcement officials would say only that advanced DNA technology led to the apprehension of DeAngelo, a former police officer in Exeter and Auburn. Some of the crimes were committed while the suspect was a sworn officer, Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones said.

Although dozens of investigators from multiple jurisdictions worked the case for about four decades, the arrest came after a six-day surveillance operation of DeAngelo in which a “discarded“ DNA sample of his was analyzed and pointed to him as the alleged killer, Jones said.

“We are working backward to fill in the gaps in his life and still filling in the timeline,” Jones said.

Officers from the Ventura Police Department, the first law enforcement agency to investigate the Smiths’ deaths, were “ecstatic” to hear about the arrest.

Cmdr. Sam Arroyo said the case was well known in the department.

“I’ve been here for 21 years, and this case is one of those that everyone talked about,” he said.

As the case had been cold for decades, much of the recent investigative work was handled by the Ventura County district attorney’s cold-case unit with Ventura police assisting as needed.

The suspect is also being held in custody for the 1978 murders of Brian and Katie Maggiore in Citrus Heights, said the Sacramento district attorney.

In the Ventura County case, DeAngelo faces two counts of first-degree murder and special circumstances alleging there were multiple murder victims, and they were committed during the commission of a rape and burglary.

“We are committed, we are determined and we will, God willing, hold this man fully accountable for his crimes,” Totten said.

Ventura County Chief Deputy District Attorney Miles Weiss said the suspect’s background may have enabled him to elude capture for so many years.

“It is extremely troubling to learn the perpetrator was a former police officer, who was sworn to protect and serve, but instead preyed on extraordinarily vulnerable people in the sanctity of their homes,” Weiss said. “It is certainly reasonable to think this suspect was so effective in evading identification for so long due to the training and experience he gained in law enforcement.”

Weiss said conversations will be happening soon among all the prosecuting agencies about the best way to proceed with the cases.

At some point, DeAngelo will be transported to Ventura County to be arraigned on the murder charges stemming from the Smith killings, Weiss said. It’s unclear when that will happen.

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Joseph James DeAngelo, who authorities suspect is the so-called Golden State Killer responsible for at least a dozen murders and 50 rapes in the 1970s and 1980s, is arraigned April 27, 2018, in Sacramento County Superior Court. AP PHOTO

Joseph James DeAngelo, 72, was arrested in the killing of Lyman and Charlene Smith. The couple was killed March 13, 1980 while they slept in their home on High Point Drive in Ventura. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/SACRAMENTO COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT

At a news conference Wednesday in Sacramento, District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert, right, flanked by Sheriff Scott Jones, discusses the arrest of Joseph James DeAngelo in connection with a string of violent crimes in the 1970s and 1980s. DeAngelo was taken into custody Tuesday at his suburban Sacramento home on suspicion of committing at least 12 slayings and 45 rapes in California. AP PHOTO

At a Wednesday news conference in Sacramento, Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert discusses the arrest of Joseph James DeAngelo in connection with a string of violent crimes in the 1970s and 1980s. Schubert was accompanied by authorities from across the state including Ventura County District Attorney Greg Totten. AP PHOTO

Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert at a Sacramento news conference on Wednesday discusses the arrest of Joseph James DeAngelo in connection with a string of violent crimes in the 1970s and 1980s. DeAngelo was taken into custody at his suburban Sacramento home on suspicion of committing at least 12 slayings and 45 rapes in California. AP PHOTO

At a Wednesday news conference in Sacramento, Bruce Harrington discusses the arrest of Joseph James DeAngelo on suspicion of a string of violent crimes in the 1970s and 1980s, including the murder of Harrington's brother and sister-in-law. AP PHOTO

After a news conference Wednesday, Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones, left, talks to reporters about the arrest Joesph James DeAngelo, seen in photo, on suspicion of committing a string of violent crimes in the 1970s and 1980s. A DNA match led to the arrest of DeAngelo on Tuesday. AP PHOTO

Bruce Harrington pauses Wednesday as he discusses the arrest of Joseph James DeAngelo in connection with a string of violent crimes in the 1970s and 1980s, including the murder of Harrington's brother and sister-in-law. AP PHOTO

This Wednesday photo shows a copy of the book "I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer" by Michelle McNamara at a Books Inc. bookstore in San Francisco. California authorities say a man they suspect of being a serial killer tied to dozens of slayings and sexual assaults in the 1970s and 1980s has been arrested. AP PHOTO

Kevin Tapia and his daughter Quinn watch as authorities search in connection with the arrest of a man on suspicion of murder on Wednesday in Citrus Heights. Joesph James DeAngelo was arrested on suspicion of committing a string of violent crimes in the 1970s and 1980s. A DNA match led to the arrest of DeAngelo on Tuesday. AP PHOTO

On Wednesday, a car is backed out of the garage of a Citrus Heights home searched in connection with the arrest of Joseph James DeAngelo on suspicion of a string of violent crimes in the 1970s and 1980s. AP PHOTO

Jennifer Carole and her father, Lyman Smith, pose for a photo in June 1964 in Santa Paula. Carole's father was one of 12 people murdered by a serial killer. An arrest was made Tuesday in a case spanning decades. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/JENNIFER CAROLE

Public defender Diane Howard, right, speaks with Joseph James DeAngelo, who authorities suspect is the so-called Golden State Killer responsible for at least a dozen murders and 50 rapes in the 1970s and 1980s, as he makes his initial appearance April 27, 2018, in Sacramento County Superior Court. SACRAMENTO BEE VIA AP

Joseph James DeAngelo, who authorities suspect is the so-called Golden State Killer responsible for at least a dozen murders and 50 rapes in the 1970s and 1980s, is accompanied by Sacramento County Public Defender Diane Howard, right, during his arraignment April 27, 2018, in Sacramento County Superior Court. AP PHOTO

Prosecutors do not yet know where the impending cases will be tried, but Ventura County is not completely out of the question, Weiss said.

There are certain “statutory provisions” that allow for multiple murders to be brought and tried together in one county, Weiss said. Law states that in cases where multiple murders are alleged, as in the 1980 Ventura case, the joined cases can be tried in any county where one of the alleged murders took place, Weiss said.

Ventura County investigators were able to question DeAngelo within hours of his arrest, said investigator Steve Rhods, of the Ventura County Cold Case Homicide Task Force.

Forensic evidence from the Smith crime scene was a key to identifying DeAngelo, Rhods said.

During an interview Wednesday, former Ventura County Deputy Coroner Dr. Claus Speth said he performed the rape examination of Charlene Smith and collected two vials of evidence. One vial was used by the crime lab. The second, however, was stored in a freezer at the Ventura County Medical Examiner’s office and remained in pristine condition for DNA analysis.

“The answer was always going to be DNA,” said Schubert, the Sacramento district attorney.

Investigators who worked the Smith case, complicated by the couple’s complex social and business affairs, expressed relief at DeAngelo’s apprehension.

“This is a great day,” said Michael Bradbury, who was Ventura County district attorney at the time of the homicides. “I’ve carried the deaths of Lyman and Charlene Smith with me every day of my life since I walked into that murder scene.

“Back then, we didn’t have DNA evidence. This new use of DNA I had not even imagined,” said the former top prosecutor, who retired in 2002.

Before DNA evidence existed, Ventura County charged Smith business associate and friend Joe Alsip with murdering the couple. Charges against Alsip were eventually dropped, and he was exonerated by DNA.

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A timeline of the 1975-1986 crime spree of the Golden State Killer, also known as the East Area Rapist, the Original Night Stalker and the Visalia Ransacker.
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“I was all too happy that the DA finally threw in the towel that they had the wrong guy,” said Richard Hanawalt, Alsip’s attorney at the time.

Hanawalt’s neighbors rushed to tell him the news Wednesday about an arrest in the case. He has been practicing law for more than 50 years and said the Smith case still stands out to him.

The Ventura attorney was delighted by the news of DeAngelo’s arrest, saying he was surprised the suspect was still alive, given the time that has passed since the slayings.

The arrest and filing of charges was a win for him on many levels.

“Lyman Smith was a close friend of mine,” Hanawalt said.

They both worked as prosecutors together, he said, and he knew Lyman Smith long before Smith got married.

Later, when the original suspect Alsip approached him and asked for his help in defending the case against him, Hanawalt said his previous friendship with the victim did not stop him.

“It didn’t bother me at all because once I got into the case, I knew they had the wrong guy,” Hanawalt said.

There were too many “wrong ends” in a case that was clearly complex. A pastor who had recently moved into town told investigators that Alsip had confessed to the murders in a 1980 counseling session.

“It was a one-man attack on my client,” Hanawalt said.

Alsip now lives in Hawaii, the attorney said.

Staff writer Christian Martinez contributed to this report.

Read “The Silent Witness,” a 26-part series on the Lyman and Charlene Smith slayings. Not able to see the document window below? Click here.